10

There were sounds echoing through my ears, the fragmented words trying to rouse me from my slumber.

"..d …une … sh… …e …est…"

But I was bloody tired.

And had a splitting headache.

"Wh… …a… …at? …y … h.. …all?"

Whatever it was, it could wait.

"… …ar on… Ja… m… …ell …s."

Why must you people talk so loud?

Go away and let me sleep.

"…r we….mply… …o this!"

SPLASH

By all that is, that's bloody freezing!

"Damn it Old Man!" I roared on instinct flinging my now soaked blanket away from me as I turned to face him, my free hand rubbing the water out of my eyes. "I am going to tear you a ne…" My promise of bodily harm died mid-threat as I found myself staring into the eyes of Professor Goodwitch instead.

The narrowed eyes of professor Goodwitch.

Uh-oh.

That is not good.

I then took notice of the area beyond the focused gaze of the professor and quickly found my fears to be realized.

I was in the med bay.

Again.

I bit back a groan.

This is truly beginning to become old.

Okay Jaune, think, why are you here in the med bay?

Don't feel any particularly painful bruises or other injuries, other than this blasted headache.

So, not a fight.

Probably.

So that leaves…

Uh…

What does that leave?

Wait no, it's coming to me now, I was at the dance, I was wearing a suit...

I paused for a moment and looked down to find I was now for some reason wearing a dress.

The dress.

Why was I wearing the dress again?

I paused for a moment before my mind filled in the blanks, remembering going back to my room to change out of the suit and change into the dress.

Okay, so I was at the party.

All was well, had a few dances, went to go get some drinks was walking back and then…

I gasped and a hand went to grasp my head as the pain intensified, what was once a dull burn, now a blazing inferno searing me from within.

"I-I saw…" I stammered, my mind reeling from what I had remembered.

Suddenly a weathered old hand clapped down on my shoulder. I turned to see the Old Bastard staring at me from the side of the bed, seated comfortably within his chair as always.

"Laddie? Speak up will you? It's hard enough to hear you as it is."

"I saw her." I breathed out, the shock of what I had said reaching my mind. "I saw my mother."

There was silence for a moment, no one saying a word in the face of my revelation.

Who else is here?

We've got Goodwitch, The Old Bastard, Peter and Professor Ozpin.

What the heck happened to me last night?

"A memory, my boy?" Peter inquired gently, trying to get some more perspective on what it was I had seen.

I ran the hand that had been clutching my forehead through my unkempt hair. "Yes. Maybe. I don't know." I sighed shaking my head. "It was just a glowing outline. I couldn't see any actual details, but I knew it was her. She said…" I felt my brow furrow as I tried to remember the words from my memory.

'Live well, Jaune.'

"She told me to 'Live well'. And then I was falling." I said finally looking up to a series of serious faces staring back at me.

The Old Bastard let out a grunt. "Hm. Well it's something at least. Something new for you to remember her by." He said patting me on the shoulder. "Now laddie, how about you go see your team, I'm su…"

"There was someone else there."

There was silence as that statement cut off Tob's words. I realized now that they were my words.

"There was someone else there." I repeated, as if affirming it to myself. "I couldn't tell you what they looked like. To my memory it kept changing over and over again, like it couldn't decide on a shape. But there was one thing that was always there. That was constant."

There was piece of paper on the stand next to my bed, some kind of indecipherable medical jargon printed across the front of it, but the back of the sheet was thankfully blank. I picked up the pen that was beside it and carefully sketched out the shape that had been present in my memories, which had been the only part I could make out of the other person in the room.

The Empty Heart.

Ozpin's eyes focused on the sheet, staring at the symbol now emblazoned upon it. "Not exactly a common symbol." Ozpin mused, a finger going up to push his spectacles further up the bridge of his nose while he picked up the sheet of paper. "I'll make some inquires. But you Mr Arc, should return to your teammates. They were quite worried about you, you do realise?" He asked rhetorically a small smile on his face as he did so.

I nodded, my mind already conjuring images of how me being dragged away to the med-bay again had been taken by my team.

A heavy hand clapped me on the shoulder, and Peter chortled. "Not to worry Jaune my boy, we'll be back there in no time." He said with a grin, before stopping and making a show of examining my outfit. But something tells me you might want to change into these," Peter picked up my combat gear from where it had been hidden out of sight behind him. "Before you make your way back." Peter suggested innocently, the tiny quivers of his moustache betraying the mirth that was barely restrained.

I glared lightly at him, put still muttered a thanks for retrieving my clothes and bringing them here.

If he hadn't the walk back could have been altogether far more awkward then it should have been.

Then again there is rarely a time when a male teenager over six foot can walk back to his room across a student heavy environment in a dress and it ever be considered anything but awkward.

Tob let out a dry laugh at that before his wheelchair turned around and started approaching the door, Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin already making their way out with a stern nod and a slight wave respectively. "We'll leave you to it then laddie. And later after you've gotten your team assignments, come find me with the rest of your teammates." He paused in the doorway twisting slightly to face me. "Something to deal with your whole 'seeing without looking' dilemma." And with that he rolled away, following after Ozpin.

Where are they off too?

I was jolted from my train of thought by Peter's hand cuffing me lightly over the back of the head. "Task at hand, Jaune my boy." He chided, gesturing at the clothes now laying on the bed before he too made his way to the door. "I'll be waiting for you outside."

I sat there in the bed for a moment, before I threw off the covers and stretched, letting out a series of loud cracks as I did so.

And also reminding me of how very tight this dress was around the chest area it was by the fact I could no longer breathe.

I swear by all that is, every time I wear this blasted dress, it always ends badly for me.

Granted I've only worn it twice but I'm two for two at this point.

After frantically extracting myself from the cursed piece of clothing I quickly changed into the clothing that Peter had bought round for me, relishing in the feel of clothing that wasn't drenched in sweat.

I cracked my neck as I tried to work all the kinks from my impromptu nap out of it before spotting my scroll from where it had probably been underneath it all.

There were a lot of missed calls there.

I winced as I imagined what was to come.

May as well get it over with.

I walked over to the door, making sure the laces on my left shoe didn't come undone again, before I opened it and stepped outside to where Peter was waiting. "Well then, shall we?" I asked, strapping Candidus Mors to my side.

"Certainly, my boy."

Near the top of Beacon Academy Tower rests the Headmaster's office for Beacon Academy, normally a quiet room save for the endless clicking and whirring of the massive cogs and gears above.

Today however it was the location for a rather heated discussion regarding the events that occurred yesterday.

"They were here..." He began, his fist clenching in frustration at the undeniable fact. "Ozpin, they were here!" General James Ironwood exploded angrily, slamming a fist into Ozpin's desk as Ozpin himself let his head sink into his hands for a brief moment as he sat behind the desk, idly watching as James and Glynda got into yet another heated debate.

Just like always.

'Today's certainly shaping up to be a difficult day.' Ozpin mused silently before bringing his head out of his hands to watch the proceedings once more.

Glynda as was quick to step forward in Ozpin's defence. "We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James." Glynda retorted not looking pleased at all with Ironwood's tone.

The general however was not appeased by Glynda's response in the slightest. "Fantastic! You're aware!" Ironwood responded, hands gesturing constantly as he did so. "Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?!"

Their heated discussion was cut off however when the familiar alert sound of someone requesting access to the headmaster's office emanated from Ozpin's desk from the elevator. Professor Ozpin stood up, the doors to the elevator sliding open as he did so. "Come in." He requested calmly.

From the elevator out stepped Ruby Rose, looking particularly awkward and slightly intimidated as she stepped into the domain of one of the most powerful individuals of Remnant.

"Sorry it took so long." Ruby apologised, the words almost blurting out of her mouth without her control. "Someone accidentally hit all the buttons on the elevator on the way up here." Ruby paused for a moment as if realising the obvious thought of who might have pressed it. "It wasn't me."

"Aye it wasn't the lassie." A grizzled old voice grunted out, The Old Bastard wheeling into the room behind her. "That'd be my fault. Figured you could use the extra time to finish your little 'discussion' with Jimmy here." Tob explained, his hands coming up to make invisible quote marks at 'discussion'.

Ironwood's gaze narrowed at that and he spun, rounding on Tob about to reply to the remark when Ozpin spoke first, cutting the general off before he said anything rash in front of the student.

"Thank you for coming, Ruby. How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked kindly, subtly reminding James why the young girl was here.

Ruby walked forward, clearly unsure of how she should act in this situation. "Okay, I guess." She said simply, thinking on what to say. "I'd feel better if my bad-guy-catching-record wasn't O-for-three." She joked miming the numbers with her fingers, giving off a nervous laugh as she did so.

Tob let out a quiet snort at that but the rest of the room was otherwise silent as they gazed at Ruby.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head embarrassed at her attempt at a joke. "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it." She mumbled, taking note of the seriousness the others were giving this situation.

"Ruby, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that what you did last night was exactly what being a Huntress is all about." General Ironwood praised, placing a hand on her shoulder and commending the young huntress in training. "You recognized a threat. You took action. And you did the very best you could." He summated bluntly, clearly of the thought that she had done the right thing."

"Thank you, sir." Ruby said in gratitude, slightly overwhelmed by the praise given to her.

At this Ozpin spoke up again, directing the conversation back to the task at hand. "Now, the general here is already informed of most of the events that..." Ozpin paused, trying to find a way to put the situation delicately, "transpired last night, but now that you rested, we were wondering if you have anything to add." Ozpin finished, looking at Ruby over his spectacles.

"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Professor Goodwitch pressed Ruby, stepping towards her as she did so, trying to see if any new information concerning the infiltrator had been remembered after a night's rest.

"I..." Ruby hesitated thinking back on her encounter with the woman in black. "I don't know." She admitted, slightly ashamed at the fact. "She was wearing a mask, and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance, though. Her clothing lit up when she attacked." She added, trying to give as many details about the woman she thought as she could.

"Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby." Glynda suggested thoughtfully, thinking back to her encounter with the flam wielder who'd been obscured by the shadows of the Bullhead's interior.

"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age-old technique." The General disagreed shaking his head. "It could have been anyone."

Tob nodded his head. "Aye, I'll have to agree with Jimmy here. Imbedding dust into clothes may not be prominent in the world of today but by no means it a forgotten technique. It's archaic, but it still has its uses.

"Wait." Ruby interrupted drawing the focus of the room back onto her. "You think that this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" She asked firmly, gesturing slightly with her arm as she did so.

Both Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch remained silent and looked to Ozpin to allow him to reply to Ruby's question.

"It's plausible." The headmaster acknowledged, one hand going up to grasp his chin in a pondering manner. Ruby looked away at that revelation clearly stuck by the news. "But we still lack the required evidence that links the two together." Ozpin added wryly, taking care to look at Ruby as he did so.

The General turned to face Ozpin at this, clearly puzzled by his last sentence to the young girl.

Ruby took the hint, suddenly adding further details in response to Ozpin's statement. "Actually, I think I remember her saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom.

Ozpin blinked, a small smile forming as he did so. "Interesting." He stated simply in response to Ruby's addition to the information.

Glynda however had other thoughts in mind. "I thought you said the intruder never-" She started before Ozpin stepped forward, flicking a subtle look to his right hand as he did so.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you." Ozpin suggested kindly, giving a slight nod of thanks to the young prodigy.

"Anytime." Ruby replied casually, turning back to the door to make her way towards the lift.

"And Miss Rose," Ozpin called after her, waiting until she had turned to face the four adults once more. "Please try and be…discrete about this matter." Ozpin said pointedly, a knowing look in his eyes.

Ruby's casual nonchalance faded away at that, the young student giving a nod to the Headmaster's request. "Yes sir."

With that Ruby left the room leaving the four to silently contemplate what they'd been told, the sound of Ruby entering the lift out of sight and the lift descending reaching their ears.

"The south-east eh?" The Old Bastard grunted finally, one hand going up to scratch his beard. "Well we certainly won't be low on places to search now will we?" He said dryly, the vast wilderness to the south east being a smorgasbord of possible hide-out locations. And that was without including the necropolis that was once called Mountain Glenn

Ironwood walked behind Ozpin's desk facing out to wear the south-east border lay on the horizon. "Well there we have it." Ironwood said firmly, "We send as many troops as we can into the southeast, find out exactly what's going on, and eradicate any forces that stand in our way."

Glynda shook her head in frustration, affixing Ironwood with a glare. "Why must your answer to everything involve a triumphant display of military bravado!?" She growled out, waving her riding crop as she did so. "You treat every situation like a contest of measuring d-!

"Glynda!" Ozpin called out reproaching from where he sat behind his desk, raising a hand as a request for her to stop before anything more was said before it couldn't be taken back, turning to face the two as standing by the window as he did so, Tob's wheelchair silently wheeling around his desk to join them, his expression serious.

"Well, he does." Professor Goodwitch added bluntly, crossing her arms as she did so.

"She's right." Ozpin stated, agreeing with Glynda. "As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all, we must remember that this may go beyond Vale. Beyond Beacon." He added, trying to remind Ironwood of the possible scale of the situation at hand. "And if this truly is part of some master plan for which we know not the final move, we mustn't be so bold. Nor can we risk the spread of panic."

Ironwood's expression darkened, slowly approaching the seated Ozpin. "I have served you faithfully for years..." Ironwood acknowledged, before pointing accusingly at Ozpin. "But if you mean to tell me that your plan is to hold the defences, and wait-"

"It is not!" Ozpin snapped back, jumping up from his chair at the accusation pointing back at him before he sighed, forcing himself to remain calm, to remain rational. Outbursts of anger would help no one here. "You're a general, James. So tell me, when you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearers, or the scouts?" Ozpin asked finally, trying to make his old ally see reason.

"Jimmy, your fancy armada is in possession of a great many skills but subtlety is not among them." The Old Bastard said, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "We send your forces in and they'll be spotted from a mile off, and you know it." He wheeled over to Ironwood's side, patting him on the arm reassuringly. "We'll get the bastards. But we can't waste our only lead either."

The General bought up a hand for a moment as if to argue before he sighed and bought a hand to his brow. "You're right." He sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache. "This situation has me on edge, but that's no reason for me to lose my temper. I apologise." He said honestly, looking up to face the others.

Ozpin waved off the apology. "James I know you only have the best of intentions at heart." He said with a soft smile, James giving a wry smirk of his own in response.

Suddenly James stopped, bringing a finger up to touch the implant above his right eye lightly. "Go ahead." He answered before listening to a conversation the others couldn't hear. "Understood. I'm on my way." The general turned to face the others apologetically. "My apologies, Polendina apparently requires my presence, something to do with upgrading the Paladin hardware an additional 14% or along those lines." He said with a roll of his eyes, an old hand at dealing to the genius' antics.

Ozpin let out a chuckle. "Best be off then. We both know how he gets when he's tinkering with something." He said with a grin on his lips.

The Old Bastard scoffed at that. "I'd hurry if you still want your fancy flying paperweight to be in one piece Jimmy."

Glynda gave a light cough, drawing the attention back to her. "I'm afraid I'll have to be on my way as well. I need to make some last minute checks of the missions to be put on the board before they go up. Just to be sure." She said firmly, already bringing out her scroll to go though the list of possible requests for the first years to take.

"Well then, shall we?" Ironwood asked politely, a roguish grin on his face as he extended an arm for Goodwitch to take.

Glynda glanced down at the arm before letting out a 'humph' and striding past him to make her way to the elevator, a chuckling James following after her.

The remaining two waited in silence until they were sure the others were gone before turning to face each other.

"They still don't realise you already know about them?" Tob asked, gesturing to where Goodwitch and Ironwood had just walked out.

Ozpin chuckled and shook his head, retaking his seat behind his desk. "I've got to keep myself entertained somehow." He said with a raised brow before the mirth faded away from his face as he bought out the piece of paper that Jaune had drawn on earlier and placed it on the table. "But unfortunately it seems that this is not one of those times." He said quietly, staring at the damning symbol on the page.

Tob glared down at the symbol. "I should have known." He snarled out, a whoosh of air leaving him explosively as his fist clenched so tightly Ozpin could start hearing the bones grinding together. "I should have bloody it was them." He swore, slamming a clenched fist into Ozpin's desk with such intensity that it shook, even bolted to the ground as it was.

Ozpin sighed and let his head sink into his hands. "It would not be beyond their standard routine," Ozpin agreed finally before lifting his head, eyes darkening behind his glasses. "Although if they were able to find even her, their reach is even greater than I feared."

The Old Bastard swore and massaged the bridge of his nose. "So, all in all, it's probably them. And if it is them, whoever they bloody are," The Old Bastard growled enraged, gritting his teeth, "Not only were they able to find someone that even you, even all these years later, have no idea where to find they were able to take her in a fight."

Ozpin closed his eyes, taking a long draw of his coffee. "We can't be sure it was the same group." He bought up finally, forcing himself to play devil's advocate.

"The laddie damn near went into cardiac arrest from remembering the damn thing, and then he drew that" He said bluntly, a finger coming down to tap on the piece of paper. "Well if that's not confirmation I don't know what is." He finished grimly.

I stood before the door to team JNPR's room, the repair work from where Nora had been imbedded in it clearly distinguishing it from any of the others.

Okay so all I've got to do is just open the door, go inside and face my teammates after I apparently did my very best impression of dying in agony at the dance.

Fun times.

Just knock on the door, Jaune.

Raise your hand and knock.

Easy.

Or…

I spun to face Peter, forcing a smile onto my face. "I've just got to go to the toilet. See you later Peter." I said confidently and started striding away.

At least until I found myself lifted from the ground by the scruff of my collar and dropped in front of the door once more.

"It didn't work when you were ten Jaune, my boy." Peter said chidingly, one hand reaching out to the door handle as the other one ensured that I remained in place. "What made you think it was going to work now?"

I struggled with Peter's grip with a minute before I gave up on the futile endeavour, slumping my shoulders in dejection.

Well there goes that idea.

"Desperation?" I answered honestly, letting out a sigh as I did so.

Peter rolled his eyes at that.

Then he opened the door, threw me inside and shut it behind me.

So much for avoidance.

"Jaune!" I heard a voice cry out and I found myself picked up off the ground and embraced in a crushing hug, driving the air out of my lungs. "You're alright! Oh thank heavens I was so worried!" Pyrrha exclaimed releasing the death grip she had around my ribs and pulling back to look at me.

Wow.

Pyrrha looked like a mess, her hair was more unruly than I'd ever imagined possible outside another incident involving Nora's PPG exploding again and her eyes looked red and raw as if she'd been crying.

Oh jeez.

Now I really feel like an ass.

"Hey, I'm okay honest. Just my aura acting up again, you know how it is." I said with a light smile on my face, patting Pyrrha on the shoulder reassuringly, forcing myself to sound light hearted and utterly unaffected by what had happened.

"It is NOT okay!" Pyrrha exploded back at me, slapping my arm away and grapping me by the front of my shirt, her knuckles visibly tightening at the edge of my vision as I continued to stare gobsmacked at this sudden outburst by my partner. "You were dying Jaune! You kept thrashing and screaming and I couldn't do anything!" She half-screamed at me, almost hysterical before she seemed to collapse into herself, her head resting on my chest as she shuddered from the intensity of her emotions. "I'm not having someone I care about die in front of me. Not again." She murmured, tears flowing silently out of her eyes.

My arms came up instinctively and curled around her comfortingly, hugging my crying teammate even as internally my mind struggled to make sense of what I'd just learned. Obviously I must have missed something rather important regarding Pyrrha's past. But how could I have missed something this big.

I tore my gaze away from the crying crimson amazon that was my partner, finding Nora looking on with a heartfelt expression, obviously having gone forward towards me but held back by an upraised arm by Ren.

He must have seen this coming. The outburst anyway, and he wanted it to be resolved as soon as possible. Seemed like Ren. Although he may not speak as much as some of my other friends, he has the uncanny ability to say more with a single look than most do with a mountain of words. He had an uncanny insight when it came to matters such as these, something I was yet to define as either a blessing or a curse on his behalf.

But that's not the issue at hand right now.

What the blazes am I supposed to say in response to that?

When in doubt laddie, make it up as you go along.

Well I haven't got any better ideas.

"Pyrrha." I said quietly when my comrade's cries had seemed to abate slightly. "I'm sorry I worried you so, both yesterday and undoubtedly the other times I seem to have found myself in the med bay as well." I said with a self-depreciating chuckle, drawing a teary smile from her. "I won't promise you that I won't die Pyrrha. I don't make promises I can't keep." I said lightly, one hand going up to brush a tear that was running down her cheek. "But I will say this. I promise you that I'll do everything I can to stop it from happening too soon." I said both my hands moving to rest on her shoulders. "Deal?"

"Deal." Pyrrha agreed, wiping her face with one arm in an attempt to bring her appearance back in order before a pink gloved hand pulled her hand away, Nora using her usual 'subtle' techniques to move Pyrrha over to where Nora's bed through the ancient art of manhandling her towards it..

Ren twitched his head subtly to the other side of the room and took a seat at the far wall, a deck of cards falling out from inside Ren's seemingly empty sleeves which he quickly began shuffling, dealing out a hand for him and myself.

There was silence for a moment, the two of us looking over our cards, rearranging them into our own unique order before the first hand took place. "How bad was it?" I murmured to Ren, both of us seemingly directing our attention on the cards, as the first few hands passed without notice.

Ren raised a brow lightly at my question and laid down a joker atop the ace that was already down, drawing another card from the remaining deck as he did so. "It looked bad. Like a full on seizure. Cardin had to hold you down so you wouldn't hurt yourself."

I let out a low whistle at that throwing down a two to reset the count. "Remind me to thank him." I said lightly to which Ren nodded minutely. "Anything else happen while I was out?" I asked, curious about what might have happened after my little 'incident'.

Ren let out a 'hmm' at that as if pondering which card to put down before finally deciding on a seven, forcing me to waste my last two in the process. "Something happened by the CCT tower. But whatever it was they're keeping quiet about it."

I let out a contemplative grunt at that. The CCT tower? Can't really imagine what anyone would want with that. I mean if you took it down it'd be annoying, sure, but to my knowledge little else.

It just…didn't make sense.

I heard footsteps approaching us from behind and looked over my shoulder to see Nora and Pyrrha gazing over my shoulder, Pyrrha now looking pristine as she usually did, taking a look at my final few cards and the massive pile that sat between myself and Ren. "Who's winning?" Pyrrha enquired, sounding much like her normal self now, calm, collected and utterly sure of herself.

I shrugged my shoulder's flicking my gaze from my remaining cards to Ren's unflinching poker face. Let's see if I can shake that. I slapped down my last ace, and I grinned, sure in the knowledge that all the aces in the deck were already down. "Me." I said with a grin, waiting for Ren's reply.

That's check, Mr Lie.

What now?

Ren in return, simply curled his lip in a slight smirk and placed another card on top of it.

Joker.

Blast.

Two jokers in a deck, not one.

Now I'm in check.

I cursed and picked up the grand majority of the deck that had served as the play deck as Ren watched on with unspoken amusement sparkling away in his eyes. "Him." I sighed, trying to sort through the many cards that now made up my hands.

Ren simply help up a finger as if to tell me to stop before he laid down his next few cards. A ten.

Followed by another ten.

Followed by another ten.

Followed by the final ten.

And then to top it all off he laid down his final card, a three.

The buggar just finished me with the weakest card in the entire game.

"Definitely him." I said with a sigh, shaking my head ruefully. "Last time I let you shuffle."

Ren let out an affronted gasp at that, bringing one hand up to his heart as if mortally wounded. "Jaune I would never do such a thing!" He said, shaking his head sadly, "For you to have so little trust in me…"

At that Nora's hand whipped out and grabbed Ren's arm and stuck her hand out the sleeve pulling out a hand full of aces and tens.

I narrowed my gaze at Ren, who chuckled nervously as Nora looked on triumphantly and Pyrrha gave a light giggle at our antics.

He swallowed as he saw the hilt of my sword slowly begin edging away from its sheath.

Oh you are about to have your ass kicked Ren.

"Will all first-year students please report to the amphitheatre?" Professor Goodwitch's voice echoed throughout the school's speakers, interrupting the aforementioned asskicking.

In the instant my eyes had turned in the direction of the voice emanating from the speakers Ren was already moving, shifting with his incredible agility around me to lean casually against the frame of the door. He cocked a brow at me slyly, smirking as he did so. "Too slow fearless leader." He mocked, waving a finger admonishingly.

Oh that is it.

I smiled broadly at Ren, seemingly laughing alongside him.

Then I surged forward barging past him, Ren spinning to the floor as I called out over my shoulder, "Guess who's winning the race to the amphitheatre?" laughing as I did so.

There was silence for a moment before Nora gave out a hoot of laughter and followed after me, Ren quickly flipping up and chasing after us.

The three of us rounded the first corner neck and neck, bumping with every step before I realized it, flicking a quick look over my shoulder only to find bewildered looking students looking after us.

Where the heck was Pyrrha?

As I went to look back a flash of bronze caught my eye and I swore, seeing Pyrrha zooming by in the air on her shield, clearly making use of her semblance to do so.

Knew I forgot something.

Time for drastic measures.

As my red headed partner pulled away from the pack, I went through my options as well as which ones were least likely to get me crucified by Goodwitch afterwards.

The Grimm studies classroom appeared as we rounded the next corner, approaching the stairs.

Bingo.

While Ren and Nora both jostled for the lead as Ren slid down the rails nimbly, while Nora simply forwent running down the stairs by leaping from one landing to the next, I instead chose to crash through the door to Peter's classroom, and made my way for the window that led to outside, leaping up and catching the top of it with my hands and making use of my momentum to flip myself up on to the roof.

I landed with a thump and turned, dashing along the roof towards the amphitheatre.

You see the other routes have all sorts of other obstacles, little things like people, stairs, walls and the like. But Pyrrha's approach inspired me.

Why go through all that when you can just avoid it?

I leapt from one rooftop to the next, giving a jaunty wave to Pyrrha as I leapt over her, who looked up with a dumbstruck expression before seemingly doubling her efforts, her flying shield picking up speed.

Okay Jaune last step, any final thoughts?

Well if I screw this up I'll probably be too unconscious to care?

Screw it.

I drew closer to the edge of the roof and instead of slowing, pushed myself faster, I was going to need every shred of speed if I wanted to pull this off.

I reached the edge of the roof and launched into the air, soaring away from the building, my hands already bringing up the sheathed Candidus Mors. I extended the sheath into its shield form, bringing it down to my feet to slide part of my shoe into one of the grips I would typically use to hold the shield.

The wind whipped past my face, the grass of the sloping hill drawing closer at a frightening pace.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Now!

Candidus Mors struck the hill with a thump that sent a shudder racing up my entire body but I'd managed to get the angle right and right now I was surfing down the hill on my shield at blurring speeds, zooming past Ren and Nora as they emerged from the front entrance of the building.

I felt the vibrations of each errant bump through every part of my legs but I remained upright, bent low to keep my balance and reduce the drag from further messing with it.

I saw the lip coming in the grass ahead and grinned, bending in preparation as I jumped just before we left it, sending me soaring through the air once more towards one of the wide open doors of the amphitheatre.

I turned to give a passing salute to Pyrrha as I overtook her and claimed victory in stunning fashi-

SPLAT

I felt my not so inconsiderable speed go from soaring to stopping in an instant, as my body slammed into something that was certainly not the open entranceway to the amphitheatre.

That hurt.

I opened my eyes to find that I'd apparently been off slightly in my calculations.

I'd missed the door.

The window however?

Nailed it.

And from the look on the wincing people inside, it must look at least half as painful as it currently feels.

And oh look there's Professor Goodwitch standing on the amphitheatre looking as if she's trying to think of where she can hide what's left of my corpse when she's finished with me.

The window screeched loudly as I slowly slid down it, finally reaching the floor and coming off of it with an audible 'pop' to find the rest of team JNPR looking at me with trepidation, seemingly unsure of what to say after my failed entrance.

"That looked like it hurt." Nora put finally, gesturing to where I had impacted with the window.

Oh hey, there's actually an imprint of me on the window from where I hit it, that's kind of neat!

I bought up a hand, coughed once to clear my throat and then went into great detail about how I was currently feeling.

"Ow." I gasped out, feeling like I'd left my lungs up on the window I'd been stuck on.

That seemed like such a good idea at the time.

As most of my ideas annoyingly have a habit of doing.

Pyrrha clapped me on the shoulder, sending a fresh wave of pain rippling down my body. "Just look at the bright side Jaune." She said with a giggle. "At least you stuck the landing."

I groaned at that, as did Nora and Ren as we walked into the amphitheatre. "That was just weak, Pyrrha." Nora said pityingly, shaking her head as we walked inside. "The whole world of window related humour and you let it pass you."

Pyrrha pouted at that, shrugging her shoulder's in disbelief. "I thought it was funny." She said, defending herself.

Ren rolled his eyes. "I would have gone with a 'god only opens the window after he shuts the door first' approach." Ren mused, nudging me as we went to take our places.

I went to retort for a moment before I stopped and thought about it for a moment. "Not bad." I admitted, giving him a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to scold Pyrrha. "I mean Yang, we'd expect it from but you?" I tutted disappointingly.

"Jaune!"

Speak of the devil.

I turned to see team RWBY approaching us, Yang in the lead. Wait, no not agai-

CRACK

Argh!

By all that is, my SPINE!

The gauntlets make it so much worse.

Yang pulled back, coughing as she seemed to have realised she just tried to crush my spine. "Uh, you gave us a bit of a scare there." She said awkwardly, rubbing a hand on the back of her head.

"Was it an allergic reaction of some kind?" Weiss asked curiously, concern clear in her eyes. "I've read about reactions like that before."

"It seemed to be a lot more than that." Blake noted, her yellow eyes scanning me as if I was about to collapse all over again.

Weiss seemed to go on to say more before Ruby suddenly appeared from where she'd been putting down her backpack.

Since when did Ruby have a backpack?

"Jaune!" She said surprised to see me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I reassured them, holding up my hands placatingly. "Just my aura acting up again that's all." I said giving a small smile as I did so, trying to convince them.

Nora eyed me at that but said nothing, although she did purse her lips slightly.

Before any further conversation could take place a familiar voice echoed out over the speakers.

"Quiet! Quiet please." Professor Goodwitch called out through the microphone on the raised platform at the front of the room, silencing the various conversations that had been taking place around the amphitheatre. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

With that Professor Goodwitch walked away off the stage and Professor Ozpin stepped forward to the microphone, his cane held before him with one hand as he gestured with the other

"Today we stand together, united." Professor Ozpin began, his raised hand stretching out to indicate each of the four distinct groups before him. "Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than when borders fell or who traded with who, but the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the countless destruction of all forms of art or self-expression. And as you are all aware, that is something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that they refused to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that was held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity." Ozpin continued on.

I hummed thoughtfully at that. I'd always kind of wondered just how it was so many of the names of people had something to do with colour.

"As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of this world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it."

At that a series of screens began raising from the walls of the hall, one on each side, each one depicting different locations and a variety of different tasks to take place within them.

"As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others will work the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

With that Ozpin stepped away from the microphone as applause broke out in response before the various students that had been listening began to disperse either walking towards one of the many screens on the amphitheatre's walls or walking back out the main doors into Beacon proper once more.

I turned to the others, stretching my arms out as I did so. "Okay guys, any ideas how we want to approach this?" I asked indicating to the swathe of various jobs around us.

Almost immediately Ren spoke up, a hand going up to grab my shoulder. "Jaune and I will take the left side of the hall, Nora, Pyrrha you to take the right side and we'll reconvene at the doors and discuss what sounds interesting."

I blinked, a bit shocked at the sudden answer before nodding my head. "Sounds reasonable. Any objections?" I inquired, turning to my two other teammates just to be sure.

Pyrrha and Nora both shook their heads, with Pyrrha quickly being dragged away by an excited Nora towards the right side of the hall.

Alrighty then, let's see what the left side of the hall has in store for us.

I walked up to the first board examining the job within it, an 'ESCORT' type mission when Ren pulled me aside. "Jaune I need to ask you a favour, it's important." Ren said quietly, his eyes focusing on mine.

I stopped at that.

In all the time I had known him, I had never known Ren to ask a favour.

This must be important.

"Sure Ren, what do you need?" I said after a moment's hesitation, directing my focus towards him.

Ren seemed to hesitate for a moment before sighing deeply. "I need to get to a certain village. There's something there I need to do." Ren stated, slowly walking around alongside the wall as we did so.

I shrugged at that. "Sure, we'll just go there the next free day we have." I responded, nodding my head. Seemed simple enough.

"It's not that simple." Ren disagreed shaking his head. "Time is of the essence, and the location isn't exactly one we can get into easily, not without good reason at least."

Aha.

"Like per say, shadowing a senior hunter in the area?" I suggested, catching on to where Ren was leading me.

Ren nodded silently, waiting for my response.

I was silent for a moment before turning to face my friend. "Ren I have to ask." I said frankly. "Why do you need to go to this place?"

Ren looked conflicted at that. "I can't tell you." He said haltingly, as if unsure of how to put it.

I blinked at that, confused. "You can't?" I repeated dubiously, arching a brow at that.

Ren raised a hand to rub his brow. "Not like that." He said wearily, "I don't know why I'm going there exactly either."

I blanked at that.

Wait, what?

"How does that work exactly?" I ventured, gesturing with my hand to try to get Ren to make more sense than he currently was.

Although at the rate he was going it would be hard for him to make less sense.

"I received a message from…well not a friend…more of a familial acquaintance than anything else." Ren spoke, a slight grimace on his face as he seemed to recall the person he was talking about. "We're not close by any means, but they wouldn't ask this of me unless it was important."

Okay then, that does sound pretty important.

"Okay fine, we'll go." I agreed finally, Ren letting out a sigh of relief as I did so.

I went to walk to the doors where Pyrrha and Nora were no doubt waiting only for Ren to grab me again by the arm, preventing me from any further. "One last thing." Ren added, his tone deadly serious. "You can't let Nora know."

I felt something critical in my mental processes fail internally at that, as I struggled to come to terms with this latest request.

I mean Ren hiding something from Nora of all people?

'We're together but not together together' Nora?

"Can I ask why or do you not know the answer to that one either?" I asked dryly, one hand palming my forehead as I went to stave off the headache this request of Ren's was sure to cause me.

"Nora's parents have met the person in question. It didn't end well, for anyone involved." Ren explained his eyes turning to focus on Nora as she appeared through the crowd. "If her parents ever told her about them it'll be…" Ren seemed to struggle to find the right word for the situation. "problematic if they meet."

This does not seem to be boding well for me.

Or Ren if Nora finds out afterwards.

"Fine." I relented eventually as we approached the door, "But for the record, this is a terrible idea."

Ren let out a laugh at that. "You're not the only one to think so." He agreed before cutting himself short as we came to a halt before the girls, various other students milling about as they entered and exited the hall.

"So did you two find anything interesting?" Pyrrha asked us, as Nora bounced lightly on the balls of her feet energetically, clearly looking like she was in need of lunch right about now.

"I saw a mission that seemed pretty interesting. I'd heard Jaune talk about how Freshwater didn't have a sheriff of its own" Ren lied seamlessly, casually gesturing back to where we'd been walking. "And when I saw a mission that had us shadowing a sheriff in a nearby village it seemed rather intriguing."

Nora squealed in excitement. "Wow! We'd be like real life sheriffs!" She said happily, her eyes filled with sparkles. "Maybe we'll stop a train robbery! Or chase down outlaws!" Nora seemed lost in her fantasies at this point.

Pyrrha giggled lightly. "Sounds like we're decided then." She stated, nodding her head.

Okay then.

Looks like we're going to be following a sheriff.

Ren dashed back to the screen, which was a blessing in disguise for me because I had no idea where the one with the sheriff job was on and quickly typed in our team name. He returned with a slight smile on his face.

"We leave tomorrow." Ren informed us and we all began walking out of the doors leading back to the outside, the clear destination of the cafeteria already in mind if the chanting of "Food, food, food" by Nora was any indication.

I felt my own stomach rumble loudly at the thought.

And I am pretty damn hungry myself come to think of it.

Time to eat.

"I can't believe you ate the whole thing in front of me!" Nora repeated for what felt like the millionth time as we walked along the main path, Pyrrha bringing a hand to her face in a way that mirrored my own exasperation with the current situation.

"You had already eaten three of them Nora." Ren interjected calmly, still somehow continuing this conversation ever since it started back at the cafeteria. "I don't see what the problem is."

"But I wanted four chocolate muffins!" Nora said with a pout, puffing out her cheeks. "And the only ones left looked like chocolate chip but they were raisins! RAISINS!" She yelled, throwing up her hands.

Oh here we go again.

If I have to hear Nora rant about the raisin abominations one more time, so help me-

"Is that team RWBY over there?" Pyrrha interjected, cutting the raisin rant thankfully short.

I looked ahead.

So it was.

"Looks like they're already leaving for their mission." Ren remarked turning his attention away from his discussion with Nora.

"Let's go see them off." I suggested, not only because it's polite but it would stop this argument from extending any further than it already had.

"Looks like we're going off to save the world with Doctor Oobleck, okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." Ruby said despondently the girls of team Ruby all bowing their heads.

Nora seemed to have heard that. "Save the world?" She called out loudly, the girls of team RWBY turning around to face us.

Wow looks like Nora's really hamming it up this time

"You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! Maybe a little hungry?" Nora's stomach gurgled loudly at this point. "That last one's not your fault, though, Ren..." Nora finished, growling at our resident martial artist.

Oh come on we just finished the last one, don't start another argument.

Ren thankfully remained silent, crossing his arms and turning away from the indignant Valkyrie.

Act fast Jaune, before Nora gains any momentum.

"You're certainly quick off the mark." I said, cutting off any further "Where you all headed?"

"Oh, just outside the kingdom..." Ruby said nonchalantly.

Nora perked up at that "Hey! So are we!" She replied, bopping up and down as she did so.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha said, placing her hands on her hips as she examined the girls before us,

"We set out tomorrow." Ren added finally, filling in team RWBY on where we were headed.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" a familiar voice offered behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Neptune with Sun in tow, both of them casually approaching the rest of us. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges." Neptune said trying to play it off as just something normal but betrayed himself with his excitement about the badges.

I bit back a laugh at that. The kleptomaniac monkey following a crime specialist?

This can only lend badly for Sun.

Which might not be that bad of a thing honestly.

"We normally go to the city with you guys." Sun started, pointing at the girls of team RWBY. "Which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know..." Sun thought about it for a moment. "normal." He decided on finally

"Well-" Ruby started before a new voice called out from one of the landing pads where the bullheads docked.

"Four minutes, ladies!" Professor Oobleck cried out from by the bullhead before blurring inside of it with his usual speed.

Ruby grimaced at that, looking rather embarrassed by the fact that they were shadowing Professor Oobleck.

From what little I've heard Peter say about him in a fight, I think that'll soon change.

There was an awkward silence for a moment as we all stared at each other, seemingly unsure of what to say next.

Or at the very least I was unsure of what to say next.

Don't get eaten by monsters doesn't really have much of a cheerful tone to it.

Ruby spoke up finally breaking the silence, pulling at the straps at her backpack as she did so. "Well, uh..." Ruby gave us a thumbs up for lack of anything more to say. "Wish us luck!" And with that team RWBY turned and made their way over to the bullhead that awaited them, which promptly disembarked the moment they were inside.

As we watched the airship fly off, Sun punched me on the shoulder lightly. "So, what are you losers up to now?" The monkey faunus asked, thankfully avoiding the subject of my collapse at the dance. "Want to head down to the city?"

I went to reply when the X-ray and Vav theme song promptly broke out on my scroll. I bought it out of my pocket and expanded it to see Peter's face staring back at me. Why's Peter calling me?

"Jaune, my boy! Are the rest of your team with you by chance?" Peter asked jollily, moustache bouncing away.

I nodded.

"Splendid!" He cheered, nodding his head. "I've leant Tob my classroom for him to use for his little training exercise of his. He even got me to chip in a bit."

Oh boy.

So now Peter's adding to it.

Yay.

Now we're almost certainly going to die.

Peter ended the call at that, his face vanishing from the screen.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I turned to face Sun and Neptune. "You're welcome to join us-" I began before I took in the scene before me.

Sun had gone a deathly pale and seemingly frozen in place, not moving an inch, while Neptune in comparison was curled up in the foetal position on the ground rocking back and forth.

I winced.

Yeah, almost forgot about that training session.

Granted they kind of deserved it after the stunt they pulled at Amelia Academy but still.

I turned to face the rest of team JNPR.

"Looks like it's just us then." I said brightly, forcing some enthusiasm into my voice as my team looked at me incomprehensively.

Those poor, poor souls.

They'll soon learn.